Apparatus for crumpling sheet-like materials

ABSTRACT

A machine for producing wrinkles in a continuously moving web of sheet material comprises one or more sets of feeding mechanisms for the sheet material cooperating with a pair of semi-circular sinuously slotted dies, one of the dies being fixed and the other being moved in an orbital circular path transverse to the plane of the fixed die but spaced from it and without altering its angular relationship thereto.

United States Patent [1 51 3,695,801 Matsushita et al. [4 1 Oct. 3, 1972APPARATUS FOR CRUMPLING [56] References Cited SHEET-LIKE MATERIALSUNITED STATES PATENTS [72] Inventors: Hidekatsu Matsushita, Kyoto;

K i i Okayama, both f 2,335,313 11/1943 Rowe et al ..264/282 Japan3,220,057 11/1965 Walton ..264/282 X [73] Assignee: Kuraray Co., Ltd.,Osaka, Japan Primary Exandner j Spencer Overholser [22] Filed: Aug. 25,1970 Assistant Examiner-Lucius R. Frye [2] 1 App]. No: 66,673Attomey--Chnsten & Sabol 30 F A [57] ABSTRACT 1 orelgn pphcamn PmntyData A machine for producing wrinkles in a continuously Aug. 25, 1969Japan ..44/67445 moving web of sheet material comprises one or more setsof feeding mechanisms for the sheet material [52] US. Cl. "425/193,264/282, 425/383 ting with a pair of semi-circular sinuously [51] Int.Cl "B296 17/02 km d di o e of the dies being fixed and the other [58]Field of Search ..l8/l FM, 1 FB, IFS, 1 FE,

18/1 FZ, ll, 19 R, 19 A, 19 C, 19 RR, 19 W, 19 D, DIG. 53; 264/231, 282,283, 193; 425/334, 383, 391, 392

being moved in an orbital circular path transverse to the plane of thefixed die but spaced from it and without altering its angularrelationship thereto.

15 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures PATKNTEDum I972 SHEET 1 BF 3 Fig. 2A

PATENTED B I973 3.695.801

SHEET 2 OF 3 Fig. IB

PATENFEDoms m2 3.695.801

sum 3 or 3 Fig. 4

m- III IIIIIIII I APPARATUS FOR CRUMPLING SHEET-LIKE MATERIALS Thepresent invention relates to an apparatus, which treats sheet materialscontinuously in order to make them pliant and to give them wrinkles onthe surface. In this case the term sheet material means sheet-likematerial such as an artificial leather which is made by inpregnating asynthetic resin in a fibrous substrate or by coating a synthetic resinon a fibrous substrate, or which is made by laminating sheets ofsynthetic resin.

Prior methods and devices for crumpling, or wrinkling, artificialleather, are disclosed in Japanese Pat. No. 485,395 and Japanese PatentPublication No. 5675/68 which is an addition patent application to theJapanese Pat. No. 485,395.

Japanese Pat. No. 485,395 discloses a method and a device in which theartificial leather is crumpled and wrinkled between a stationary holderand a movable holder. The stationary holder and the movable holder pinchthe artificial leather with a force weak enough to permit the artificialleather to run through the holders and not to produce creases, and themovable holder is reciprocated from right and left or up and down or ismoved in a composite reciprocal motions.

The Japanese Pat. Publication No. 5675/68 discloses a method in whichprotrusions are provided at appropriate intervals on the surface of thepinching device holding the artificial leather therebetween so thatlongitudinal wrinkles corresponding to the intervals between theprotrusions are formed on the artificial leather and in which, in orderto form lateral wrinkles, after the movement of the artificial leatheris stopped and is gripped securely by the pinching device,

. the movable holder is moved toward the stationary holder, therebyslackening the artificial leather, and thereafter the movable holder ismoved in circle or reciprocally in a direction transverse to the runningdirection of the artificial leather.

When the two methods for crumpling the artificial leather are studied,it is found that they cannot be carried out together, although one isthe addition patent application to the other. That is to say, in theformer method the artificial leather is crumpled continuously, while inthe latter the artificial leather is crumpled intermittently, but notcontinuously. It is apparent that, as satisfactory wrinkles are notproduced by the former method, the latter method was designed to producewrinkles satisfactorily only by intermittent operation, that is to say,at the cost of discarding the advantage of a continuous treatment.

The apparatus for wrinkling sheet-like materials of this invention is auseful apparatus in the industry in which the defects of the well-knownmethods and apparatus for crumpling artificial leathers are overcome.The apparatus is capable of continuously treating sheet-like materialsand producing sheet-like materials which are uniformly soft and wrinkledas may be desired.

In the drawings,

FIGS. (1A and 1B are a plan view of a preferred form of apparatusconstructed in accordance with the teachings of this invention;

FIGS. 2A and 2B are a side elevation of the same;

FIG. 3 as a transverse vertical cross-section taken on the line 3-3 ofFIG. 1A, and;

FIG. 4 is a transverse vertical cross-section taken on the line 4-4 ofFIG. 1A.

With reference to the accompanying drawings, numeral 1 indicates a rollof sheet material of the type previously described which is to betreated by the apparatus hereinafter described to provide it with awrinkled finish. This supply of sheet material is supported in asuitable frame. The sheet material from this supply roll is pulled offby a conventional drive means la, which includes the guide roll 8-1 andfeed roll 2 to provide moving websl of sheet material which passes nextthrough an intermediate feeding device 4-1, whichimparts an arcuatetransverse cross-sectional configuration to the moving web preliminaryto its passage through an arcuate wrinkling mechanism, indicatedgenerally by numeral 5-1, after which the curved web may be subjected tothe application of heat, by means of a heater 9-1 and transferredfurther by means of a second feeding device 4-2 through a secondwrinkling means 5-2, again subjected to the influence of heating means9-2, drawn off by intermediate feeding means 4-3 and 4-4 to be returnedto a flat cross-sectional configuration by guide rolls 8-2 prior toaccumulation on a take-off roll 7 by means of the draw-out rollmechanism 6.

The invention particularly relates to the series of intermediate feeddevices 4-1, 4-2, 4-3, and 4-4, shown in cross-sectional elevation inFIG. 4, and the wrinkling devices 5-1 and 5-2, shown in cross-sectionalelevation in FIG. 3. While there are four feed devices and two wrinklingdevices shown, it will be realized that there may be fewer of each ofthe devices employed or the number may be increased, according to thespace available and the type of material being treated.

In FIG. 4, one of the intermediate feeding devices is shown and, sinceall are identical in general construction, only the one need thereforebe described. As shown, the web of sheet material 10, whose side marginshave passed through the guides 3-1, come into engagement with a seriesof feed rolls 27, 27' and 27" mounted on shafts 29, 29' and 29" whichare rotatably supported on a suitable framework at right angles to eachother so as to position the feed rolls in alignment with the peripheralsurface of a generally cylindrical guide plate 26. In addition, thereare also a set of backup rolls 28, 28' and 28 positioned opposite therespective feed rolls on resilient supports (not shown) so that each ofthe feed rolls, assisted by a respective back-up roll grips the sheetmaterial in frictional driving engagement. The three driving shafts areconnected by right-angled gear drives 32 so that they may be rotated inunison by a driving device 30 connected to shaft 29 by means of aconventional constant torque transmission means 31. In this way, each ofthe intermediate feeding devices exerts an even tension on the web ofsheet material as it passes through the wrinkling devices.

FIG. 3 illustrates one of the wrinkling devices and since all of thewrinkling devices are similar, only the one need be specificallydescribed. These devices include a stationary die holder 11 and amovable die holder 12. The stationary die holder is itself mounted on aslideway 15 which permits it to be shifted toward and away from themovable die holder in a direction parallel with the movement of the web10. The stationary die holder includes a semi-circular outside-die 17and a complementary generally disc-shaped inner die 18, both of whichare replaceably mounted on a support 19, so that the inner peripheralsurface of die 17 and the outer peripheral surface of die 18 togetherdefine a sinuous, or corrugated slot 16, the width of the slot being nogreater than approximately three times the thickness of the sheetmaterial to be processed in order to eliminate the possibility of thematerial being folded over during passage through the slot.

The movable die holder 12 also replaceably supports an outersemi-circular die 17' and an inner disc-shaped die 18' by means of asupport 19' which is mounted on a laterally projecting frame 20 and theadjacent peripheral surfaces of the dies 17' and 18' also define asinuous, or corrugated slot 16 similar to the slot 16 and alsopreferably no wider than approximately three times the thickness of thematerial to be processed.

The frame 20 is supported, by means which will be described, so that itmoves bodily in a circular orbital path as viewed in FIG. 3 so that themovable die holder 12 moves about the center line of the fixed dieholder 11 without however changing its angular relation to the fixed dieholder. To accomplish this the frame 20 is provided with twohorizontally spaced bearings 24 and 24, only one of which (24' can beseen in FIG. 3; the frame 20 being broken away in that view to show anarm 23 provided with a pin 21 which is rotatably received in thecorresponding bearing 24. Each of the arms 23 and 23' are mountedtransversely on shafts 22 and 22 (see FIG. 1A) and each arm is providedwith an adjusting screw 25 which is arranged to change the radial offsetof the pins 21 from the centers of the respective two shafts. The twoshafts 22 and 22 are driven in unison by means of a belt, or chain 33,connected with a reversible drive mechanism 14 which, in turn, is drivenby a motor 13.

In operation, the sheet material 10 is fed from the supply roll 1 by thedrive means la, through the guide roll 8 1 and feed roll 2 in a flatcondition, after which it is converted to a arcuate cross-section by thefirst of the side margin guides 3-1 and the first of the intermediatefeed devices 4-1 and after passing through another set of side marginguides 3-2 is introduced into the slots 16 and 16 of the fixed andmovable die holders 11 and 12 of the first wrinkling mechanism 5 1. Thearcuate sheet of material is then drawn on through the side marginguides 33 by the next intermediate feed device 4 2 under constanttension and introduced through side margin guides 3-4 into anotherwrinkling device 5 2 comprising fixed and movable dies as in the firstwrinkling mechanism. From here the sheet is withdrawn through sidemargin guides 3-5 by further intermediate feed mechanisms 40 3 and 44,

with an additional side margin guide 3-6 disposed between them, andreturned to a flat condition by guide roll 8 2 and fed to a up roll 7 bymeans of the drawout rolls 6.

During the movement of the sheet 10 through each of the wrinklingmechanisms the movable die holder 12 in each case may be movable in itsorbital path with respect to the fixed die holder 11 in either aclockwise, or counterclockwise direction, as seen in FIG. 3. Obviously,if such movement is clockwise, the sheet 10 as a whole will tend toshift in the stationary die slot 16 in the same direction. Consequently,the reversing drive mechanism 14 may be arranged to automaticallyreverse the direction of said rotation at programmed intervals of time,or in response to sensing mechanisms not shown), to avoid thepossibility that the shift of the material in the fixed slot 16 becomesso great that one or the other of the marginal edges of the sheetmaterial becomes entangled at a respective end of the slot 16, suchmechanisms for actuating reversal of the drive mechanisms and forsensing the positions of the moving web are well known in the art.

In addition, the web of sheet material as it leaves the wrinklingmechanisms may be subjected to the influence of heating devices,respectively identified by numerals 9 l and 9 2 which devices maycomprise electrical radiant heaters, or blowers conducting heated airfrom a remote heating source (not shown).

Finally, it will be understood that the type of wrinkle obtained willdepend upon many factors, all of which may be independently controlledin accordance with the teachings of this invention, such as:

l. Feeding rate of the sheet-like material.

2. Shape of the slit of the holders.

3. Distance between the stationary holder and the movable holder.

4. Number of revolutions of the movable holder.

5. Degree of the offset of the movable holder.

6. Tension at the wrinkling device.

Having disclosed one form of apparatus in accordance with thisinvention, it will be understood that various modifications andimprovements may be made which would come within the scope of theannexed claims.

What is claimed is:

1. Apparatus for continuously producing wrinkles in a moving web ofsheet material comprising first and second complementary die means, eachof said die means including a fiat plate means provided with anarcuately extending slot having a sinuous configuration, means to mountthe first die means in a fixed position in a first plane, means tosupport the second die means, with the plate means of the second diemeans disposed in a second plane parallel to and spaced from said firstplane of the plate means of the first die means and movabletranslatorily in an orbital path disposed in said second plane andtransversely with respect to the center line of the first plate means,and means for moving a web of sheet material serially through saidsinuously configured slots while said second die means is moving in saidorbital path.

2. The invention defined in claim 1, wherein the width of said sinuouslyconfigured slot in said fiat plate means is approximately three timesthe thickness of the web of sheet material being wrinkled.

3. The invention defined in claim 2, wherein said plate means includesan outer semicylindrical plate and an inner disclike plate, therespective inner and outer peripheral surfaces of said plates definingsaid sinuous slot, and means to mount said inner and outer plates incoacting relationship.

4. The invention defined in claim 3, wherein said first die meansincludes mounting means for adjusting the spacing between the first andsecond die means.

5. The invention defined in claim 1, wherein said second die meansincludes rotary mounting means for supporting the second die means anddrive means for moving the second die means selectively in said orbitalpath in either clockwise or counterclockwise direction.

6. The invention defined in claim 5, wherein said rotary mounting meansincludes means for varying the displacement of said translatory movementin said orbital path.

7. The invention defined in claim 5, wherein said second die meansincludes frame means for removably holding said plate means, and saidrotary mounting means includes a pair of driven rotary shafts mountedfor rotation about axes generally parallel with the direction ofmovement of the web, radially extending arm means secured to each ofsaid shafts and bearing means positioned eccentrically with respect tosaid respective axes connecting each of said arm means with said framemeans.

8. The invention defined in claim 7, wherein said arm means includesradially slidable connection means for securing said bearing means, andadjustment means for holding the slidable means in a variety ofpositions.

9. The invention defined in claim 1, wherein said means for moving theweb includes drive means disposed in frictional engagement with thesurface of said web, said drive means including constant torque couplingmeans for exerting a constant tension in the web.

10. The invention defined in claim 1, wherein said means for moving theweb includes guide means for receiving a moving web of flat sheetmaterial and imparting a transverse curvature to said moving web priorto movement through a die means.

11. The invention defined in claim 10, wherein said means for moving theweb includes additional guide means for retaining an arcuate transversecurvature in said moving web after passing through said die means.

12. The invention defined in claim 11, wherein said means for moving theweb includes means for maintaining a predetermined longitudinal tensionin said moving web. v

13. The invention defined in claim 10, wherein said guide meanscomprises a generally circular element spaced from said die means, aplurality of driving rollers positioned for frictional engagement withthe surface of the web, a back-up roller for each of the driving rollerspositioned on the respective opposite side of the web and resilientlyurging the web into said frictional engagement, and means for turningthe driving rollers in unison.

14. The invention defined in claim 13, wherein said means for turningthe driving rollers includes constant torque coupling means formaintaining a predetermined tension in the web.

15. The invention defined in claim 1, wherein said apparatus alsoincludes means for heating said moving web as it moves away from saiddie means.

1. Apparatus for continuously producing wrinkles in a moving web ofsheet material comprising first and second complementary die means, eachof said die means including a flat plate means provided with anarcuately extending slot having a sinuous configuration, means to mountthe first die means in a fixed position in a first plane, means tosupport the second die means, with the plate means of the second diemeans disposed in a second plane parallel to and spaced from said firstplane of the plate means of the first die means and movabletranslatorily in an orbital path disposed in said second plane andtransversely with respect to the center line of the first plate means,and means for moving a web of sheet material serially through saidsinuously configured slots while said second die means is moving in saidorbital path.
 2. The invention defined in claim 1, wherein the width ofsaid sinuously configured slot in said flat plate means is approximatelythree times the thickness of the web of sheet material being wrinkled.3. The invention defined in claim 2, wherein said plate means includesan outer semicylindrical plate and an inner disclike plate, therespective inner and outer peripheral surfaces of said plates definingsaid sinuous slot, and means to mount said inner and outer plates incoacting relationship.
 4. The invention defined in claim 3, wherein saidfirst die means includes mounting means for adjusting the spacingbetween the first and second die means.
 5. The invention defined inclaim 1, wherein said second die means includes rotary mounting meansfor supporting the second die means and drive means for moving thesecond die means selectively in said orbital path in either clockwise orcounterclockwise direction.
 6. The invention defined in claim 5, whereinsaid rotary mounting means includes means for varying the displacementof said translatory movement in said orbital path.
 7. The inventiondefined in claim 5, wherein said second die means includes frame meansfor removably holding said plate means, and said rotary mounting meansincludes a pair of driven rotary shafts mounted for rotation about axesgenerally parallel with the direction of movement of the web, radiallyextending arm means secured to each of said shafts and bearing meanspositioned eccentrically with respect to said respective axes connectingeach of said arm means with said frame means.
 8. The invention definedin claim 7, wherein said arm means includes radially slidable connectionmeans for securing said bearing means, and adjustment means for holdingthe slidable means in a variety of positions.
 9. The invention definedin claim 1, wherein said means for moving the web includes drive meansdisposed in frictional engagement with the surface of said web, saiddrive means including constant torque coupling means for exerting aconstant tension in the web.
 10. The invention defined in claim 1,wherein said means for moving the web includes guide means for receivinga moving web of flat shEet material and imparting a transverse curvatureto said moving web prior to movement through a die means.
 11. Theinvention defined in claim 10, wherein said means for moving the webincludes additional guide means for retaining an arcuate transversecurvature in said moving web after passing through said die means. 12.The invention defined in claim 11, wherein said means for moving the webincludes means for maintaining a predetermined longitudinal tension insaid moving web.
 13. The invention defined in claim 10, wherein saidguide means comprises a generally circular element spaced from said diemeans, a plurality of driving rollers positioned for frictionalengagement with the surface of the web, a back-up roller for each of thedriving rollers positioned on the respective opposite side of the weband resiliently urging the web into said frictional engagement, andmeans for turning the driving rollers in unison.
 14. The inventiondefined in claim 13, wherein said means for turning the driving rollersincludes constant torque coupling means for maintaining a predeterminedtension in the web.
 15. The invention defined in claim 1, wherein saidapparatus also includes means for heating said moving web as it movesaway from said die means.